Broncos defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson is held back by the referee during Oct. 9, 2011 game in Denver as he becomes the latest in long line of Broncos to exchange words with Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers.

Kevin Vickerson, a starting Broncos’ defensive tackle since the start of the 2010 season until he was released Saturday, visited the Cincinnati Bengals on Tuesday and took a physical.

The Bengals, however, will not sign Vickerson this week, according to an NFL source. Possibly next week. Any vested veteran (four years or more of NFL service time) who is on a team’s season-opening roster automatically has his full-season salary guaranteed.

Vickerson is 31 and coming off a dislocated hip injury, which presents enough question mark for a team to minimize its risk.

But I would say this to the Bengals: Before he got hurt in game 11 last season at New England, Vickerson was the Broncos’ best defensive lineman. Tackle, end, nose guard or otherwise. For a playoff contender, Vickerson is worth waiting on to see if he can regain form.

Mike Klis was with The Denver Post from Jan. 1, 1998 before leaving in 2015 to join KUSA 9News. He covered the Rockies and Major League Baseball until the 2005 All-Star break, when he was asked to start covering the Broncos.

Florida’s state social services agency investigated Nikolas Cruz’s home life more than a year before police say he killed 17 people at his former high school, closing the inquiry after determining that his “final level of risk is low,” despite learning that the teenager had behavioral struggles and was planning to buy a gun, according to an investigative report.